Honourable senators, ‘tis the season for paying tribute, so I would like to draw the chamber’s attention to the enormous contribution to the Senate made by our colleague, the former Senator Pratte, who stepped down on election night. His departure is a great loss for the upper chamber and the Independent Senators Group. At the same time, I am also losing a friend. We both had careers in journalism in the past, so we often shared the same instincts. André was part of the first Independent Senators Group. Anything seemed possible at the time. He took on the task with fervour. He believed in it. He’s the real deal. He sponsored four bills, and he wrote and delivered nearly 60 speeches in three and a half years on subjects ranging from medical assistance in dying to pipelines, firearms, freedom of expression and, of course, the infamous Salisbury Doctrine.

You have all witnessed his capacity to synthesize and analyze, his quickness and his many historical references. If a columnist were to attack the Senate in the morning headlines, no problem, we would all have André’s well-crafted response, in both French and English, by 8:00 a.m., and it would have already been sent to the papers for publication. I often wondered whether André ever slept.

On a more personal note, Senator Pratte stood by me on two occasions since my appointment during debates on issues I championed. During the debate on Motion No. 410, on the importance of services in French for Franco-Ontarians, André helped with the writing, went into the trenches and tried to persuade the Conservatives, since he was always looking for a compromise.

On Bill C-48, André Pratte took up the torch with Senator Sinclair. They proposed an original compromise that rallied the independent senators. It was all for naught. The government rejected our amendment. That was one of the reasons why André Pratte decided to leave this place, a decision that greatly upset me because his analysis of the problems in the Senate is, as always, honest, fair and uncompromising.

I wish our dear colleague all the best. Thank you for everything, André.